Chapter 131

Some orphanages sponsored by the government and the Association were a kind of public institution, and the man came from one of them.

"Ju-hyeon."

"Yes, Director."

In accordance with the orphanage's rules, his name was Ju-hyeon, without a surname.

"If you have time, could you run an errand to the Association for me?"

"Of course. What should I deliver this time?"

"It's the list of the new children coming in. I need them to review it."

He was born four years before the Great Catastrophe.

In other words, he had lived through the Great Catastrophe around the age of four, and the child who had even lost his name was clever and diligent, so he survived under the care of others while receiving plenty of love from the adults. That was also why he was able to stay at the orphanage.

"Understood. I'll be back soon."

"Our Ju-hyeon is so kind."

"It's something I should do."

Association-affiliated orphanages generally selected children who were smart, healthy, and diligent. Children raised there either became Hunters and gained independence if they Awakened, or received the opportunity to get a job at the Association.

Ju-hyeon was one of them, but unlike other orphans who lived however life took them, he had ambition.

"Ju-hyeon, you said you wanted to go to the Association research lab, right?"

"Yes, even if I Awaken, I prefer the research lab."

He wanted to make the world a little better. He wanted to prevent as many tragedies as possible.

"I can help the Hunters."

Having endured the Great Catastrophe with his bare body, he had seen the misery of the world. He had seen just how far humans could fall into ruin.

Within that, Ju-hyeon had been especially lucky. He hoped to share the luck he had received with others so that the same tragedy would not happen again.

"Ju-hyeon, you're admirable."

"Thank you."

"The research lab is always short on personnel, so I'm sure you'll be able to get a job there."

"I hope so."

If I can share what I have, there is no reason not to share it.

"I want to be of help."

That was Ju-hyeon's way of thinking.

It was embarrassing to say aloud, but it was his own kind of conviction. If he could help, he would help, and if he could stand with someone, he would stand with them.

With that sense of duty, even after the man got a job at the Association, he did not forget to support the orphanage that had raised him.

"You must be busy just making a living too, but thank you as always."

"It's thanks to you raising me, Director."

"That was my job, so what are you talking about..."

"I know very well how hard it must have been to look after us."

Ju-hyeon was mixed-race, and his skin was black. The "Other Orphanage" where he had stayed was a place where children of foreign background like him gathered in especially large numbers.

"Most people don't care about skin color or anything like that now, but there was a time when things were really hard for you."

"People were very on edge right after the Great Catastrophe."

"I know. There was a lot of talk about whether you had to look after foreigners too when you were already busy caring for Korean children. I remember."

"Ju-hyeon, that was..."

"I know I'm Korean too. I was born here. It was just like you said, Director. Everyone was on edge back then."

However, because records of nationality and everything else had all been wiped out, people at the time were extremely wary and dismissive of anyone whose appearance was even slightly different from an East Asian's.

The Great Catastrophe was that kind of time.

"I understand it, but maybe the atmosphere from back then is still lingering... Even now, our orphanage doesn't receive much support."

"That's because I'm lacking. Um, by any chance, do the people at the Association look down on you..."

"I can't say they don't. But it's all right. You know me. I'm this smart and capable, so if I handle myself well, I'll establish myself soon enough."

Association employees hired through the orphanage track tended to face discrimination, and the orphanage Ju-hyeon came from was a place that was treated with even greater contempt. Promotions came slowly.

Naturally, he could not participate in proper projects. A researcher who had not been promoted was, in practice, no different from an errand worker.

Even so, with his diligence and his hidden shrewdness, Ju-hyeon won over his coworkers and drew the attention of the higher-ups by showing outstanding ability.

"Why do you work that hard?"

"It's something I can do, so there's no reason not to."

"You're diligent. I hope we work together for a long time."

While there were people who liked him, there were also people who worried about him or sneered.

"People who work that hard burn out quickly."

"Thank you for the advice."

It was true, so he accepted it and swallowed it down.

Ju-hyeon was not purely a saint. But his goal was to make a better world, and he found the path that could contribute to that as cleverly as possible.

'Since I've set such a huge goal...'

He did it appropriately, so that he would not burn out too quickly.

'I just have to do it one by one.'

He did not grow impatient. He did not seek anything like honor. But he had confidence.

He was especially intelligent among the researchers and learned quickly. Although he was not Awakened, thanks to always taking care of himself, he was healthier than average.

That Ju-hyeon also did a great deal of volunteer work.

"From the Association?"

"How funny. I guess you need test subjects or something?"

"What makes you so great that you think you can help us?"

People in the outskirts, or those inside and outside them who needed help, were highly wary. Even so, Ju-hyeon steadily made contact with them, talked with them, and interacted with them. After some time passed, they softened.

"Thanks for treating me last time."

"I heard the kid in that house over there is sick..."

"Do you happen to have more food? You know, since it's winter."

Some among them were sincerely grateful, and some among them treated Ju-hyeon like a hen that laid eggs. There were people who were rude from time to time, but Ju-hyeon was not swayed and continued volunteering steadily.

"... I'm busy."

But even that was good.

He participated in the Association's research, and in his spare time, he studied or volunteered. On both sides, rude people existed everywhere, and things that angered him were unavoidable. Even so, it was good.

'Once I build up more experience, someday I'll be able to rise to the position of team leader too. If I become a research team leader, I'll be given time and resources for my own research. Then I'll be able to carry out research on dungeons and monsters too.'

It was when he was spending each day busily like that.

"... Huh?"

"Aaaaaaagh...!!"

"What, what the..."

Someone ran out and grabbed Ju-hyeon's ankle.

"Save me, save me, please...!! I was wrong!! I'm sorry, I'll never do it again!!"

"W-Wait..."

"You fucking bastards, I said save me, no!! I don't want to die!! At least not like that...!!!"

"Ugh...!!"

The research lab employees began murmuring, and not long after, a security unit appeared. No, perhaps they had been chasing him to catch him in the first place, because they immediately subdued the man.

As Ju-hyeon stood there in bewilderment, holding his throbbing ankle, a researcher who seemed to have followed them apologized.

"Oh no, is your ankle all right? It's not broken?"

"Pardon? Ah, yes. Ah... no, I think I will need to receive treatment."

"It's our mistake. The Association will treat you, but separate from that, we'll compensate you."

"More importantly, that person just now...?"

"Hm?"

The researcher looked at Ju-hyeon's face and tilted his head.

"Ah, you still haven't been assigned to a proper project, have you?"

"Is that related?"

"He's a response agent, a response agent. He ran out because he didn't want to do his job."

"A response agent..."

He did know about them.

"Do you mean the people who participate in experiments with us?"

"Put another way, they're just test subjects."

"..."

"I guess you're not used to it."

The researcher chuckled.

"Just think of it that way. It's nothing important."

"... As far as I know, I heard that response agents are given appropriate treatment and compensation."

"There are grades to that too. Mr. Ju-hyeon, you wouldn't know because you haven't been assigned to a project yet, but that one just now is closer to a lab rat."

"I'm quite certain he was asking to be saved."

"He was scheduled to enter the Red Room after meeting the Hourglass, so he got scared. I should have managed him properly, but he was stronger than I expected, so I was surprised."

"... The Hourglass? The Red Room?"

"You're going to work with us soon anyway, Mr. Ju-hyeon, so I'll tell you in advance."

It was a benefit that felt as if all his efforts until now were being rewarded, but his heart was pounding and cold sweat was running down him, leaving him no time to feel grateful. Soon, Ju-hyeon was able to see the "Hourglass" and the "Red Room" the researcher had mentioned.

"That is a monster that eats people's time. It looks like a gorgeously decorated hourglass on the outside, but if it doesn't eat a person's time once a week, its decorations turn plain. When that happens, an abnormal phenomenon occurs... but you'll learn about that later."

"..."

"Do you see the room attached on the other side? Mr. Ju-hyeon, you must have seen it once or twice while coming and going on errands, and it's attached there because all of this was arranged with the movement route in mind. The monster living inside there is a bright red jewel, and it is satisfied only when it eats the blood of the elderly and newborns."

It was difficult to understand.

"... When you say it eats time, you mean..."

"Since it's difficult to obtain newborns or old people in this day and age, we simply turn them into old people and put them in."

"... Then both the monster called the Hourglass and the monster called the Red Room will be satisfied. Is that right?"

"You understood well. Mr. Ju-hyeon, I really am grateful because I think you'll adapt well."

"Haha..."

In short, they were offerings to be sacrificed to monsters.

"Is that really all right? Wouldn't there be problems, or, um."

"The response agent who was just sent in was a Grade 5 citizen."

The researcher added, as if he understood what Ju-hyeon meant.

"Don't take it too much to heart."

He was a murderer who killed dozens of people. After saying that, the researcher patted Ju-hyeon's shoulder a couple of times and disappeared.

Ju-hyeon watched countless researchers move here and there between the endlessly lined-up rooms of monsters as they talked, or enter one room or another.

Even though he was in the middle of a crowd, he felt as if he had been left alone.

"..."

Ju-hyeon soon came to his senses and did what he had to do.

He faithfully carried out the tasks entrusted to him, went out to volunteer and spoke with abandoned citizens, and even painstakingly requested a conversation with the Association President. But nothing improved. Everything remained the same. It was the same daily life.

His family at the orphanage and his friends on the streets asked him.

"You look really tired lately."

Ju-hyeon was comforted by that.

"The things happening in the research lab aren't as... noble as I thought."

"If a place like the Association were only noble, that would be surprising in its own way."

"Yes, you're right."

He collected himself.

"Thank you for listening to me."

Because he had family and friends, he was able to stand again.

'I survived even the Great Catastrophe. I can endure this too, and I'll find a better path.'

So he tried to do even more things. After gaining authority, Ju-hyeon even used himself as a test subject to produce results.

But all he saw was the endless repetition of the tragedies he had so desperately not wanted to see. Even though he had done so many things because he did not want to see this repetition of tragedy.

"..."

"You've overworked yourself. We'll give you vacation, so go recuperate for a month."

"... But..."

"I know what you want, but in your current condition, you cannot even properly carry out the work assigned to you."

"... Understood."

Perhaps because he had made an impression after their conversation the other day, this was something the Association President personally recommended after seeing Ju-hyeon overworking himself.

Ju-hyeon tried to be stubborn for a moment, but then realized his body and mind had become badly disordered and soon accepted it. He did not want to insist stubbornly without any measures.

"I'll rest for a bit."

But he should not have done that.

"..."

When he recuperated until his body had roughly recovered and returned, his hometown was burning.

Some of his friends from the street were nowhere to be seen, and something was chaotic. Without even being able to collect himself from his bewilderment, Ju-hyeon ran here and there to understand the situation.

"What?"

And soon, he learned that he was the cause.

"Because of me?"

"It seems a few people who had complaints about you caused trouble."

"Complaints? What on earth..."

"They were here and there, apparently."

Someone from the orphanage he had considered his hometown, someone among the street friends he had thought he had grown close to, and some of the research lab employees he had considered capable colleagues had hated Ju-hyeon.

It was not as if Ju-hyeon had not known those feelings at all. Envy and jealousy, or disgust, the conflict that came from differing ideologies. Because he knew that, he had been even more careful, but in the end, something had happened.

"To be honest, I didn't look at you all that favorably either."

"..."

"It seemed like you were the only one pretending to be clean, you know?"

That sounded a little.

"... Haha."

Terrible.

As for why he had not heard the news earlier, they said that the research team leader in charge of Ju-hyeon had done so to break his spirit, because he seemed to be harboring some strange scheme. He had said he could not work together with someone who had absurd ideas.

Had he stood out that much? Well. He had not.

'I thought I was careful.'

He had tried to understand the ideologies of his other coworkers as much as possible. There had been many times when he accepted them. However, there had also been times when he made suggestions. Perhaps those tiny, tiny things had gathered together and led to this absurd "hazing."

But my family and friends were not Grade 5 citizens. They were "innocent citizens." No matter how difficult it was to find human rights or anything else in this world, this made no sense.

'Why didn't anyone stop them? Why isn't anyone tormented by guilt? Why am I the only one suffering?'

Someone said this.

"Just accept it. If you slip up, Mr. Ju-hyeon, you could become a response agent too."

"That can happen?"

"When we're short on personnel, researchers get deployed as response agents too."

"I have always heard that the research lab is short on personnel."

"Most of all, Mr. Ju-hyeon, you've already acted as a test subject before, haven't you?"

"Does that become a problem?"

"I don't know about a problem, but it could probably become a pretext."

"... I understand."

Someone else got angry.

"Fuck, I knew this would happen. This is why you can't trust those Association bastards!"

"No, I..."

"My friends died because of you! What about the ones who are missing? I bet they were dragged off as test subjects!"

"... That's not what happened..."

"You hypocritical bastard. Does it feel good pretending to be nice and then stabbing us in the back? This is so damn filthy..."

"..."

He was tired.

"..."

It would have been nice if he were simply tired, but he was angry. It was an order of emotions he could not quite understand, but because of this exhausted rage, it was difficult to judge rationally.

He was so angry that he wanted to offer himself up and burn away all this anger...

'... That can happen.'

Humans were originally fickle and self-centered, so such things could happen. Ingratitude was one of the characteristics of the human species. They quickly forgot what they received and were sensitive to losses.

He had known all of that when he began. He had been hurt by those things countless times. But because he wanted to make a better world, because he did not want to see the same tragedies, because that was his conviction, he had lived with a smile.

'That can happen.'

But suddenly, the thought occurred to him that he was human too.

"... So..."

When he came to his senses, he was holding the mark of an evil god in his hand.

He had made the mark of Sankalut, one of the evil gods.

"... This can happen too."

He had not used it yet.

Sankalut was said to be an evil god of blood and honor. If one offered the blood of a newborn or an elderly person who had died in terrible agony, it would grant a wish, and it would send the souls who died in the process to paradise.

Even so, the reason Ju-hyeon had not yet summoned the evil god was not because he was kind or because he thought he would endure this time too. It was simply that he had not thought about whom to kill, or what wish to make.

'... I don't even have anything I truly want, but I'm thinking of getting angry first. I don't understand. Did I always act this stupid?'

It felt as if something had gone empty.

"... The person who dies can be me."

It felt as if he had become a puppet tied to a thin thread that was not his own will.

He had the authority to approach the monster called the "Hourglass," which ate human time, but since so many things had happened in various ways, he was not sure whether he still had that authority now.

"Still, I should be able to summon an evil god."

That was enough.

"As for the wish... hm."

What should he wish for?

'Should I ask it to bring my dead family back to life?'

Ju-hyeon blankly entered the orphanage that had been burned to ruins.

All the bodies had been collected, but the abandoned building in the gloomy location had not even been demolished. Without a word, Ju-hyeon entered the children's room, which was charred black. In the room that was at least somewhat intact, traces of the children remained.

"... This is..."

There was also an unidentified drawing that had somehow managed not to burn, only becoming scorched.

"Did they draw Black Cloak?"

He had certainly been famous for a while.

'There are quite a few children who talk about Black Cloak or draw pictures of him.'

Ju-hyeon stared at the picture with lifeless eyes, then soon let it drop carelessly downward. He heard the sound of it striking the floor with a soft thud.

With his exhausted body, he sat on a bed that smelled of burning. That was when he was looking down at the mark of the evil god he had made.

"..."

"..."

"Splendid."

An exclamation filled with wicked interest.

He realized that someone was standing by the entrance to the room.

"It is a jewel with the scent of blood and riches, is it not?"

"... What..."

"If you give that to me, I can give you a prettier and more valuable jewel."

"Where are you right now...?"

"Listen, gentleman. Shall I guess what you're thinking right now?"

A man in a black suit was leaning against a gilt frame.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"... Pardon?"

It came out of nowhere.